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DOJ considering dropping charges against former pro-Israel lobbyists

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) might drop charges of disclosing national defense secrets against former pro-Israel lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, a senior official said Tuesday. Government sources told the AP that there is still some support for going to trial with the case, which has been delayed repeatedly since the former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) were indicted under the 1917 Espionage Act in August 2005. Rosen faces up to 20 years and Weissman up to 10, with the trial currently scheduled to begin in June. In a related story, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) defended herself Tuesday against reports that wiretapped conversations revealed her agreeing to seek leniency in the case in exchange for political favors. In February, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the former lobbyists could use classified documents in their defense. In November 2007, a federal judge ruled that then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior administration officials must testify about whether they shared classified national defense information with lobbyists. In August 2006, Rosen and Weissman's constitutional challenge of the Espionage Act failed. In January 2006, former Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin was sentenced to 12 years, seven months in federal prison after pleading guilty to giving classified information to the lobbyists.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).